Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Progress on the Register of Overseas Entities and new capabilities to tackle abuse of UK corporate structures

Lord Callanan: The Register of Overseas Entities is a vital new information tool for our law enforcement agencies and is part of the Government’s comprehensive and ongoing programme to tackle and prevent economic crime and illicit finance.The Government legislated for it within weeks of the invasion of Ukraine, and with the assistance of Parliament expedited regulations needed to launch the Register, which opened on 1 August 2022.Yesterday marked the end of the six-month period for overseas companies and other legal entities in scope to register. By 5pm yesterday, about 19,665 overseas entities were successfully registered and there were approximately 5,054 pending registrations that were submitted before the deadline. As such, the UK now has a valuable new database for law enforcement and others to access.Throughout this period Companies House has been working closely with the three UK land registries to ensure overseas entities are aware of and comply with the new requirements. Companies House sent 57,000 notice letters to all entities in scope in August, including duplicate letters to those that had multiple contact addresses recorded at the land registries. In October 2022, HM Land Registry issued a notice letter to the entities registered in England and Wales to alert them that a restriction notice had been placed on their land. In early January 2023 Companies House issued further reminders to those who hadn’t yet registered.Companies House has endeavoured to ensure it has the best possible information about those that have not yet complied, matching registrations against data from the land registries. Whilst some entities may have changed their name, not updated the land registry records or may no longer exist, Companies House continues to research and to work with company registries in those jurisdictions with the highest number of in-scope entities to determine the status of all unregistered entities.An estimated 7,000 overseas entities have not yet complied with the provisions of the Register. From today, those entities will find that they cannot freely lease, charge or dispose of their land. This is a significant and effective sanction for non-compliance. Data about unregistered entities may also provide valuable information for law enforcement.Companies House is now assessing and preparing cases for additional enforcement action. These cases will be prioritised using an intelligence-led approach and Companies House will work with those entities making a genuine attempt to comply. Warning letters will shortly be issued to all unregistered overseas entities. Those wilfully failing to comply may find themselves subject to financial penalties or criminal prosecution.The Government is also announcing that, through an investment of up to £20m of allocated spending on economic crime, new anti-money laundering intelligence teams will be created to tackle the misuse of UK companies, corporate entities and property. Intelligence analysts and data scientists will be recruited over the coming months. They will play a key role in supporting the prevention, detection and disruption of money laundering, terrorist financing and kleptocracy through identifying, analysing and disseminating intelligence about high level threat actors and enablers of those activities, to a wide variety of law enforcement and regulatory agencies. There will be a strong focus on networks controlled from overseas, for example those operating from former Soviet states. The new functions will be based within Companies House and the Insolvency Service, and will work closely with the National Economic Crime Centre and their private sector partners. The teams will use and support the existing powers of both agencies and new powers being introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Update on Myanmar

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My Honourable Friend, the Minister of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Indo-Pacific) (Anne-Marie Trevelyan), has made the following Written Ministerial Statement:Today marks two years since the military seized power from the democratically elected government in Myanmar. The military continues to instigate violence across the country and inflict acute suffering against the people of Myanmar.The consequences for domestic and regional stability are clear; over 17 million people are now in need of humanitarian assistance - a staggering increase of 16 million in just two years; over 1.5 million people are displaced within Myanmar, with a million more in neighbouring Bangladesh, Thailand and India; illicit economies are thriving; and democratic gains have been reversed. Recent figures indicated Myanmar suffered some of the most intense violence in the world in 2022, with conflict-related deaths second only to Ukraine. There is a clear trajectory of increasing violence, human rights violations and abuses, to which the UK has responded with a range of tools.Since the coup, we have provided around £100m to support those in need of humanitarian assistance, deliver healthcare and education for the most vulnerable, and protect civic space. We are proud to work with civil society organisations in Myanmar who have access to vulnerable communities in the most remote and hard to reach places, even where others have been unable to do so.We have led a strong, coordinated international response to the coup, through our G7 Presidency and our leadership role on Myanmar at the UN Security Council (UNSC). On 21 December 2022, the UNSC passed the first ever resolution on the situation in Myanmar, led by the UK. The Resolution demands an end to violence and urges immediate action by the military regime to fully implement the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ Five Point Consensus and release all those arbitrarily detained. We have also used our role at the UN Human Rights Council to highlight violations, including gender-based violence.The UK condemns the brutal actions of the military regime. The military continues to use indiscriminate air attacks on schools, hospitals and places of worship, to supress, intimidate and demoralise the civilian population. In Myanmar, the security forces are committing atrocities with impunity, including reports of sexual violence, torture and village burnings bearing many of the hallmarks of the atrocities against the Rohingya in 2016 and 2017. In response to this violence, the UK has announced its fourteenth tranche of targeted sanctions, to target companies and individuals who are responsible for supplying aviation fuel to the Myanmar Air Force. We will continue to use all possible measures to target those who seek to facilitate and profit from the military’s human rights violations.We support all those working peacefully to restore democracy in Myanmar. The military must engage in inclusive and meaningful dialogue with the full range of opposition voices, including the National Unity Government (NUG), and respect the democratic aspirations of the people of Myanmar. In 2022, UK Ministers spoke regularly with counterparts in the NUG. We call on the military to immediately end its campaign of violence and release the thousands of people it has detained arbitrarily, including Aung San Suu Kyi. The military must engage in inclusive and meaningful dialogue with the full range of opposition voices in order to respect the federal, democratic aspirations of the people of Myanmar.The Rohingya in Myanmar continue to suffer systemic discrimination. Sadly, this is leading to desperate attempts to reach third country destinations, often ending in tragedy. We will support all efforts to seek accountability for the atrocities they suffered in 2017. This is why, in August, we announced our intention to intervene in the International Court of Justice case brought by The Gambia.We remain committed to supporting efforts to hold perpetrators of violence to account. We have provided funding to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar and established the Myanmar Witness Programme to collect and preserve evidence of serious human rights violations and abuses, including those against women, girls and LGBT+ people.I reiterate my steadfast support for the people of Myanmar, and my desire to work towards a peaceful, inclusive and democratic future for the country.

Department of Health and Social Care

Transfer of NHS Digital into NHS England

Lord Markham: Today, NHS Digital legally becomes part of NHS England, to create a single, central authority responsible for all elements of digital technology, data and transformation for the NHS.Laura Wade-Gery was commissioned by the Government to lead an independent review of how we can ensure digital technology and the effective use of data is at the heart of transforming the NHS.Her report Putting data, digital and tech at the heart of transforming the NHS, published in November 2021, recommended merging the functions of NHS Digital into NHS England, to provide a single statutory body for data, digital and technology to provide the right leadership and support to Integrated Care Systems.NHS Digital, since its creation as the Health and Social Care Information Centre, has been a powerful force for change in the NHS and guardian of its key data IT and data systems. These will be transferring to NHS England, together with its expert staff.All the protections of people’s data which existed in NHS Digital will apply in NHS England. Rigorous internal controls will continue to ensure that data is used and shared safely, securely and appropriately to deliver high-quality care, understand and protect the health of the population, effectively plan and improve services, and research and develop innovative treatments, vaccines and diagnostics.This is an important step in bringing together in a single place, the essential systems and programmes to digitally transform the NHS, and to harness the full potential of data. This will enable health and social care services to use digital and data more effectively to deliver improved patient outcomes and address the key challenges we face.